Why do some police officers beat or kill unarmed citizens?

Question

Example: Rodney King. Yes, the guy sped and was high on PCP, but at the point he stopped resisting they just kept beating him with nightsticks.

I have even heard of wheelchair bound inmates at Tent City (Maricopa County, stomping grounds of Sheriff Hoe-Boe-Joe) being tasered for lingering in the food line too long.

Why do police officers beat or kill unarmed civilians when they clearly know it is illegal and a violation of law, the same laws they are supposedly said to uphold?

Seriously, if you are a police officer and you see your comrade beating someone up unjustly, do you just laugh and go along with your chum, or do you actually act as a human being and defend the person being pummeled?

Are cops even human beings anymore, or are they just pre-programmed robots, oblivious to right and wrong?

Paul

http://www.policeabuse.org/national-crisis/

Please tell me that the videos on that page do not constitute police brutality. Especially view Video #2 of the 2nd set when they beat down a man for argung with the cops about what they just did to another man (in fact, all of the people coming out of their homes were outraged at the cops, and rightfully so).

Paul

Answer 1

What about the other 99.9% of Officers that do an excellent job protecting us on horrific salaries and at great personal risk?

The problem is...the bad news gets the press, and you see them (eg.Rodney King)....the good news doesn't.

I choose to acknowledge the majority of real Officers and their everyday sacrifices. Not the few idiots.

Answer 2

1

Answer 3

I got an idea, why dont you fight someone on PCP for awhile and after he beats you up and down for a few minutes, and someone gives you an ASP or night stick you maintain control of yourself and not use excessive force. It has been proven time and time again the news media will show the officers blow someone away on the side of the highway or 4 or or more officers taking a subject down, but they wont show the tape of the subject putting others lives in danger and beating the crap out of your loved ones. Remember there is a victim in every crime, and at the end of every shift a cop wants to go home and not be killed because he was worried what you might think of the amount of force he used.

Answer 4

I see where you're coming from... you must not have anybody in your life that is in law enforcement huh. My father has been a cop all my life. He is a great man and is very kind to everyone he meets. He tries to help drug dealers and those addicted to drugs get help and better themselves. You really do need to rethink your opinion about police officers. I'm not disagreeing with you completely because as the world is today, it's sad to say this, but there are police officers out there in the world who are like that. That beat innocent people up, still money, take the drugs home and use them after a drug bust, it's mind boggling to think about all of the wrong stuff that probably goes on that us citizens do not know about. In society today though, you cannot think about the negative all the time or you're gonna be stuck right with it. Do more research about police officers. Watch a show that's called Fugitive Strike Force... watch America's Most Wanted... those are shows that expose you to the real side of what police officers have to do in their everyday lives. So many police officers put their lives on the line for you everyday. I hope this helped you reconsider your negative side about them. God Bless.

Answer 5

Your generalization of cops is simply wrong. You are painting all cops as bad guys based on a couple of examples without knowing all of the facts. Rodney King was and still is a complete dirtbag. I know and associate with many cops and quite frankly, they deal with an extraordinary amount of crap from people. We have no comprehension of the type of morons, dirtbags and losers these cops have to face on a day to day basis. Today, 8 police officers spent the entire afternoon looking for a young boy who had gone missing..probably without even getting a thank you when they found him.

Many cops are heroes, yet you don't hear about it...

Answer 6

Hey you cant taLK about that lil b i t ch shefrrif Ho Blow Joe like that, you'll be in tent city with your pink undies on getting tazed for lingering in the lunch line trying to get some green bologna. Cops beat people because it takes an idiot to be a cop, this is true you must take a test to be a Phoenix cop an if you score too high they will not accept you. They say that you will be unhappy. They have done studies which are now outlawed that suggest that it is human nature to abuse people in captivity.

Answer 7

The cops who do this abuse the power of the law...they have no right to beat up on someone if that person is defenceless...If he threatens the police with some implement they have the right to use minimum force to apprehend the suspect. Cops who believe that they cannot be prosecuted and feel are above the written laws are eventually found out by Internal Affairs or there own colleagues turn them in because they know of the wrong that has been committed. 97.5 of cops are brilliant they perform their duty without reproach by IA who investigate these allegations.

Answer 8

That is a tough thing to answer. Sometimes with police work the officer will become jaded or angry. They will lose patience with people who break the law. They will have a short fuse for those who put their lives in danger. This is the stance that I would take to justify the police's activities.

But in the case of Sherriff Joe Arpaio (as you mentioned) sometimes you just have bad people with a badge. Joe has little repsect for human life, civili rights or basic needs of people. That would be the bad cop.

Finally you can answer that it is basic nature that if you are in a position of power you start to exploit it. Check out the stanford experiment (mentioned below). It gives a good insight into the nature of man in a position of power.

Answer 9

Cops use any force neccessary to do their job. rodney king was resisting arrest and had what was coming to him. Use your frekin brain dude. Yes there are also some bad cops out there but the majority of them are hard working people who strive to make a living for their family and come home after each shift. See how one bad cop messes it all up for the rest of them?

Answer 10

sway-ii is misunderstanding.
since 2000, all uniformpolicepeople and uniformpolicecars are missing around the streets most the time.
The empty ambulanses are surrunded all the time.
When you would need an ambulance car at the time, everythings are disapeared.
I don't know why?
Finally, the police need a n ambulane to lead their operations
The areas there are some careless undercoverpolicmen or careless people